Catalogue Number
NBS I/D 1753
Object Name
banner
Title
THE NOBLIST MOTIVE IS THE PUBLIC GOOD. IN GOD IS ALL OUR HOPE. JUSTITIA PAX.
Place
England & UK
People
artisans
Date
1832
Creator(s)NBS National Museum of Labour HistoryNBS Amalgamated Engineering of Electrical Union
Description
Central panel of plumber's trade society banner. Although the phrase 'trade union' had existed for over eight years by 1830, trade society names and noble, civil mottos were a common feature on skilled workers' banners well into the 19th century. The name of this particular plumber's society was not given on this banner, so we do not know if it was produced by a local, regional or national organization.
Pride in the plumber's craft figures largely in this banner. The shield shows the plumb line, mallet, plumber's dresser, plumb square, grozing iron, hacking knife and plumber's soldering iron.
On top of the shield is a delicately painted figure of Justice.
Materials: Ground of cotton with applied central area of oil-painted linen edged with silk.
Along with the Dunns shoemakers banner this was made by workers to celebrate the final passing of the Reform Act in 1832. But these processions ended in disappointment when the details of the act were received with the new franchise based on proprty qualification leading to a narrow electorate which excluded working class men. It is likely that this banner was constructed from a smaller wall or table hanging used by this local Plumbers trade society in its secret meetings and then simply sewn onto a large blue sheet. It was a case of it literally emerging from an underground existence into being part of the new and increasingly confident working class. The new motto on the blue sheet 'The Noble Motive is the Publick Good' is typical of the uplifting messages which the society was ttempting to convey. At some point, probably late 19th c, someone has tried to erase the K of public, but this has been retained by the PHM's conservators. The donor from the ETU, John Lloyd (former NMLH trustee) thought that the banner may have orginated in Cumbria and this is quite possible given that pro-Reform meetings involving trade societies occured all over Britain.
For Plumbers of this period see Nick Mansfield, ''The Norwich Plumbers Emblem', Socila History Curators Group Journal, 14, (1987),:51-8, and for radical banners 'his ''Radical Rhymes and Unions Jacks: A Search for Evidence of Ideologies in the Symbolism of 19thc banners'', University of Manchester Working Paper in Economic and Socila History 45 (2000).
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